Fiction The Fight by Vladimir Nabokov. In the mornings the writer, a Russian, would go swimming at a lake outside Berlin. Every morning the same man would appear next to him. He was a bowlegged, elderly German with a large bald head. He brought along an umbrella, a blanket, and some newspapers. The writer amused himself...

Personal History II-SOUND SHADOWS OF THE NEW WORLD by Ved Mehta. PERSONAL HISTORY about the writer's second year, at age 16, at the Arkansas School for the Blind. The school developed a new kind of social-adjustment program for the students. Its purpose was to teach them skills they would need in the sighted world but that they could not pick...

Dancing by Arlene Croce.

The Talk of the Town Jackson Communique by E. J. Kahn. Talk interview with Eudora Welty in Jackson, Mississippi, where it has been unseasonably& unreasonably cold. Writer telephoned Ms. Welty to inquire how she& her neighbors were faring. She gave the following report: "My telephone's one of the few things that are working around here... My electricity stayed on...

The Talk of the Town Architect of the Capitol by Lincoln Caplan. Talk story about George White, Architect of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, which is in the middle of a facelift. Said White: "We're binding the building, so the bricks & masonry that hold it up won't thrust out & the walls won't slowly collapse." He explained that "Architect...

Musical Events by Andrew Porter.

The Theatre by Edith Oliver.

Letter from the Space Center by Henry S. F. Cooper. Space-shuttle missions have been coming thick & fast. For the nation's first all-military mission launched on Jan. 24 there was a news blackout. Seven more military missions are planned in the next three years. Four recent shuttle flights are of special interest. These missions are the 9th, the...

Comment by Lawrence Weschler. About ten weeks have passed since the disastrous accident at the chemical plant in Bhopal, India, and we're now beginning to get the exhaustive journalistic reconstructionsNthe Times completed its series a few days back. The Times reconstruction of the Bhopal incident as it was seen from the point of view...

Fiction Interference by Daniel Menaker. At the end of June the writer, who is Jewish, &his girlfriend Elizabeth, who is not, stopped at his Uncle Sol's farmhouse near Great Barrington. They were on their way from N.Y. to Vermont. In the kitchen, writer found his Uncle Sol, his cousin Ella&his Uncle Joe...

The Talk of the Town A Sight on U.S. Highway 1 by William Franzen. Talk story about the Life Savers plant in Port Chester, New York, which was closed down last March, and the giant metal replicas of Life Savers rolls which have decorated the base of the building's facade for many years. Writer spoke to Ray Sammarco, a former manager of the Port...

Poetry One by One by Philip Levine. A man is singing on a bus...

Poetry Poem for my son, Aged 10, After a high fever by Sharon Olds. When you have a seizure and I call the doctor and I'm...

Poetry Louisiana by Jeffrey Greene. Traffic halts for a wreck...